Breaking Bad - General Discussion

[Crashcourse]

17 hours ago, Soobs said:

And it does turn into domestic violence when he tried to disarm her of the butcher knife.

Wasn't he trying not to get stabbed though?   

[Spartan Girl]

18 hours ago, Soobs said:

He was an emotionally abusive husband too. All the gaslighting he does to Skyler looks a lot worse in 2022 than it did when it aired. Not to mention how sexually aggressive he is with her. And it does turn into domestic violence when he tried to disarm her of the butcher knife. All that was very hard to watch. I have no idea why people hated her. Because she gave him a hand job while checking ebay on his birthday?

Pretty much, unfortunately.

Skyler deserves credit for not throwing his ass out of the house when he almost raped her at the beginning of season 2. 

And no, him trying to disarm her of the butcher knife in “Ozymandias” does NOT count as self-defense. He could have just ran out of the house right then and there, but instead he engaged. When he got the knife, he had her pinned to the ground by the throat. Had Walter Jr. not intervened, I’m 99.9% sure he would have stabbed her in the heat of the moment.

[Crashcourse]

He could have run out of the house, but she would have followed him and stabbed him in the back.  I don't think he would have killed her.  It was a nasty, unfortunate fight and I was sorry Walt Jr. had to witness it. 

There were times when I really felt sorry for Skyler, especially in earlier episodes when he pulled his disappearing act, and she didn't know where he was and was worried sick, in addition to being pregnant.  I remember her standing at the four corners spot and trying to decide whether to leave him.  I wish she had taken the kids and left.   

[Soobs]

3 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Wasn't he trying not to get stabbed though?   

That was memory of it too and she does swipe at him and cuts him but then he lunges at her rather than disengaging. He was angry and wanted everyone to skip town with him and got out of control angry when he couldn't control everyone.

I agree with you that she should have left when she went to the Four Corners. I wonder if she ever wrote her novel. She definitely has enough juicy material.

One other thing that stood out during my rewatch is how stressed out and emotional Walt, Skyler, Jesse and even Hank and Marie got as things got progressively worse. Stressed brains often make bad decisions.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Soobs

[Soobs]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Pretty much, unfortunately.

Skyler deserves credit for not throwing his ass out of the house when he almost raped her at the beginning of season 2. 

And no, him trying to disarm her of the butcher knife in “Ozymandias” does NOT count as self-defense. He could have just ran out of the house right then and there, but instead he engaged. When he got the knife, he had her pinned to the ground by the throat. Had Walter Jr. not intervened, I’m 99.9% sure he would have stabbed her in the heat of the moment.

She was pregnant when he almost rapes her and when Holly was born she did a lot of trying to hold things together/ wishing things were different because of the baby. Sunk cost fallacy hit her hard.

I know they aren't doing spin offs anymore but how fun would Breaking Bad: The New Generation be with Walt Jr., Holly, Kaylee Ermentraut, Brock and Lydia's kid in their early 20's. I would watch the hell out of that.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Soobs

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Soobs said:

That was memory of it too and she does swipe at him and cuts him but then he lunges at her rather than disengaging. He was angry and wanted everyone to skip town with him and got out of control angry when he couldn't control everyone.

Bingo. And while I certainly wouldn’t have blamed Skyler if she stabbed him while he tried to flee, I doubt that would have happened. 

[MagnusHex]

First time viewer currently on season 2, episode 8, Better Call Saul. First appearance of Saul. Finally.

"Hi, I'm Saul Goodman. Did you know you have rights? Constitution says you do, and so do I." - Birth of a Meme Legend

But first, let's give Badger an F in the chat. He almost got away with it too, but then his intelligence went from a 6 to a 2 when he believed that crap about asking if he's a cop. lol I was almost impressed with his observation at the beginning of the episode too. He should've just walked away. "Show me you're not wearing a wire." Wrong show, Badger. 😉

But honestly, Walt and Jesse shouldn't even be surprised. You hire amateurs who don't know what they're doing like Badger, you get what you paid for. Not exactly running a Barksdale operation here, you know what I mean? 😆 (With Walt's pure meth and Avon's crew, they could've made a fortune) Even Saul got all confused there. "Now what would two feds want with a little twerp?" They hired a clueless kid to sell meth. That's how loose Walt's operation is at this point, with Saul literally walking right into Walt's chemistry class, not to mention the 80 G's for springing a kid when Stringer would just pop, pop, pop. Hope it gets more professional down the line, but I'm guessing that involves Saul in some way in the future.

Of course, Hank and his DEA squad ain't any better. Walt and Jesse sitting there spying on them from behind without them knowing, and then Hank not suspecting anything when Walt, a bald man fitting the description, just coincidentally waltzed in and blocked his view. They didn't even notice anything off when Badger switched bench and talked to another bald dude. It's like, c'mon, not even a little suspicious? Of course, credit deserved after the arrest though because it feels like Hank knew something's off with Jimmy being the legendary Heisenberg. As Walt later puts it, "Not Even Close." At least Hank's still got that cop instinct on him.

Walt and Hank's chat about PTSD and fear, I think, was coming from a place of both concern and ego on Walt's part. I think Walt probably cared about Hank on some level, but I'm rather egoistical myself to know what it's like comforting someone and feeling superior about your "good deed." At the same time, everytime Walt speaks about "kicking fear in the teeth" or "putting your talents to good use," it might as well have been him trying to convince himself because he didn't follow any of his own advice before the cancer diagnosis popped up. It's coming from a place of insecurity.

Edited October 28, 2022 by MagnusHex

[MagnusHex]

Breaking Bad - 2x11: Mandala

AND FINALLY GUS SHOWS HIS FACE.

Finally, we've got all the big players in the house. Walt, Jesse, Saul, and finally, Gus, here at last. Saul couldn't have made it more obvious whom the big player was when he mentioned him to Walt. And really, it's hard to not be spoiled about Gus' existence with a show as big as Breaking Bad, much like how it's hard to be ignorant of Brother Mouzone or Marlo Stanfield. These are larger than life figures whose names are spoken of regularly in the TV sphere, especially on Reddit, so often that you'd practically have to be a recluse not to have learned of their names a decade past the show's airing.

But man, Gus' introduction was epic, just acting like an ordinary little "manager" with Walt none the wiser. I'm glad that Gus called out on Walt's amateurism in the drug game. Heck, from what I heard of Gus, he could easily out-compete Avon Barksdale or Tony Soprano combined.

Of course, you gotta love that Gus only revealed himself after Walt compared himself to Gus. "I don't think we're alike at all, Mr. White." Even the cool-headed Gus lets his ego here slipped in. Something tells me that will be his eventual downfall because Walt definitely lived till the final episode anyway even though I heard Gus tried to kill him. Getting in partnership with a sloppy dealer like Walt just doesn't seem careful enough in my book. Avon would've called it quits as it'd be too risky (with Stringer making a deal with Walt behind his back, maybe).

Giancarlo is great in the role of course, easily transitioning from amicable fast-food owner to stone-cold "you have poor judgment" killer. It helps that I'm watching The Boys season 3 as well. He does get typecast in these kinds of roles, but I like watching the professionalism of his characters, and in a show like this where Walt just keeps screwing up, a professional like Gus is exactly what we needed to really bring the game to the next level.

And honestly, what I'm about to say isn't a dig at the show. It's a great show, and it's damn entertaining, especially that ending this episode. But I feel like it's appropriate that 1) I'm watching The Sopranos and The Wire at the same time as this and how BB was often labeled as a lesser show compared to these two, and 2) watching Walt FLOP about like a confused fish not knowing where to swim while being reminded of how the game is properly done by real drug lords like Avon and real mafia like Tony. From these two points, it might seem easy to say it's because Sopranos and Wire had more well-written characters, but I would disagree with such an observation. I would even say that what makes BB a different show makes it special in its own right.

When looking at the three shows, BB seems like a more human kind of show to be honest. The Wire is exhausting compared to BB, not because it's a slow-burn, but because it's supposed to be an exhausting look at a broken institution that's never going to be fixed, the drugs hurting the community. It has its focus on the individuals' intimate stories, but largely, it's about the broken collective. Watching Tony Soprano, on the other hand, feels like watching a rabid and self-destructive predator at a wildlife preserve, just observing the morbid family comedy that ensues between the Sopranos. But with BB, at least in the first two seasons, Walt and Jesse's continue f*** ups just feel more realistic in a different way than something like The Wire's realism. Of course a high school chemistry teacher with no background history in crime would screw up like that. Of course Jesse would get high and drugged up and make a poor partner in high-stakes drug-dealing. As Saul put it, it's fantastical that Walt and Jesse didn't get arrested yet. The circumstances of the plotline surrounding them can be fantastical at times, especially now that Gus and Saul are here, but I feel that the fallibility of Walt and Jesse made them feel like real people who screw up instead of larger than life figures in a TV show. That's the kind of appeal that BB brings to the table in the realm of prestige TV, a more down-to-earth show featuring pretty ordinary amateurs in larger than life circumstances.

Another thing that helps ground the show is that we get to see Walt and Jesse suffer the consequences of their actions (and his Walt's case, consequences caused by his own ego). It's not just "oh he'll be alright because he's the main character," which happened a lot even on Sopranos because you know few things would be able to harm Tony's crew, even Livia and Richie. We get to see Walt and Jesse suffer losses in relationships, or in this episode's case, close friends who were practically naïve kids dragged into a grown-up's game and shot dead on the street. It's like I could never predict what's going to happen next episode, especially when Walt practically abandoned his own child's birth to sell f***ing meth in this one. How grotesque can this monster get? Guess it's not even his final form yet. It's like a powder keg of a TV show where Walt and Jesse's relationships would blow up any second... especially with what I've been spoiled about Jane's fate this season... Consequences. Sigh. Ah well. Jane wasn't heading down a good road anyway, with Jesse's corruption breaking her drug-free streak. But that powder keg and explosive style of writing is what Vince Gilligan is so great at, even during his time at The X-Files. His episodes were always engaging in a Bruckheimer blockbuster kind of way, making The X-Files a movie of the week.

Anyway, two episodes left. Big stuff coming down. How will Walt confront his family about this? What kind of BS excuse could Walt come up with this time? Don't touch that remote and tune in next week! 😆

Edited November 10, 2022 by MagnusHex

[MagnusHex]

Breaking Bad - 2x12: Phoenix

Well, erm. How about that ending, eh?

Like I said, I already knew Jane was going to go, but I had thought it would be more dramatic in a Vince Gilligan Crazy 8 manner, not murder through happenstance. It's not even murder, technically speaking, and in most American states, negligence to save another life isn't a crime. The situation ended up more like Tuco's death with Hank just coincidentally stopping by at the right time. It's the kind of anticlimactic death that would appear in Knight in White Satin Armor is what I'm saying.

But damn, there were a number of red flags planted even prior to her death. Jane telling her father she would go to rehab the following day (it's like showing a soldier's family photo) and threatening Walt were the big signs that she's gonna get got by the end of this episode. Never threaten the protagonist (and especially the source of drama that keeps the show going, in this case, his meth career); even Gus Fring didn't get away with it.

But you know what? That's not even the most shocking part of the episode for me. In previous circumstances prior to this episode, we've seen Walt's personality transition to Heisenberg in shades. There were signs that the monster was growing inside him. But I think that with previous cases, his arrogance was still tolerable for me because I'm a pretty insecure person myself who understands how you could let your ego swallow you up and make some appalling decisions.

Boasting about your drug money to your own fucking baby to soothe your ego crosses the line for me. Pathetic, Walt. Fucking pathetic.

Edited November 13, 2022 by MagnusHex

[PeterPirate]

Here is a video from my second-favorite reaction channel.  

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by PeterPirate

[qtpye]

For those who need a smile.

 

[MagnusHex]

Breaking Bad 3x12: Half Measures

What the f***?!

So... how about that ending, huh? *cue generic sitcom laugh track* I could see this episode's ending as someone's way of saying, "And this was the moment Walter White became Heisenberg." lol (for me, and a lot of people I'd assume, that "moment" is a lot of moments over the course of the series, not just one moment, but I digress) It's hardly a surprise by this point in season 3 how explosive Mr. Gilligan's series can become. The jaw-dropping shock is practically part of the audience's usual routine by now. "Run." What a freaking fantastic ending, built up upon by a just as fantastic climax as Jesse slowly walked towards the rival dealers, preparing to shoot them.

And look, I'm not defending Walt or anything; I still think he's a slimy scumbag... but you gotta give the man some credit here, no matter how minimal. I thought he was just gonna go out and search for Jesse, perhaps trying to stop him from murdering again, being a judgy hypocrite as always. What I didn't see coming was the balls he had in that final scene. But maybe it's not guts, but recklessness, because obviously, he hasn't thought through what this meant. Like, how the heck is he going to explain to Gus? Christ. Of course, the one with the real balls of steel around here was Jesse for calling Gus out on using child soldiers. His actions selling meth to his rehab group were problematic, but it's his more positive actions like this that presumably made him a fan-favorite.

But man, I think the real shocker here was Tomas' fate. What the hell, man? I think I might have spoiled myself about what happened on Reddit, but I must've forgotten about it because I was in shock, previously in relief when I had thought that Tomas was gonna be relieved of his soldier duty (in a way, he was... permanently relieved). And you gotta love how that scene was directed: Jesse and Andrea just lying in bed as if everything's gonna be alright now, just as clueless as I was, and then BAM! "Your son's dead." Sirens. Shock. I had thought that the episode was gonna end there too, leaving me and my loose jaw hanging.

What an amazingly written episode. THIS is what makes Breaking Bad exciting television.

10/10

Edited January 31, 2023 by MagnusHex

[qtpye]

This is brilliant.

 

[Electricmastro]

Watching the first season and am liking it so far. One thing though:

Why did Jesse try melting the body in the bathtub if that would just cause a hole in the floor?

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Lol. That idiot didn't think ahead that  that__ type of acid would eat through the bathtub ( made of plastic or fiberglas? ) also. Plus it would continue eating through the floor and wood joists.

[Electricmastro]

"Lol. That idiot didn't think ahead that  that__ type of acid would eat through the bathtub ( made of plastic or fiberglas? ) also. Plus it would continue eating through the floor and wood joists."

So, it happened because he is stupid then

Edited July 18, 2023 by Electricmastro

[Electricmastro]

I’m def liking the start of Breaking Bad season 3. Jesse isn’t being as much of “punkboy” and I don’t have to hear Walt and Skyler argue with each other as much anymore. Good first impression.

[Electricmastro]

The episode “Shotgun” made me realize something. Walt describes the meth-making process as a “two-man operation”, but I never quite figured out why exactly that was.

why exactly is it a two-man operation anyway?

Edited July 22, 2023 by Electricmastro

[Electricmastro]

So, what was Jesse saying about how no one else can know?

 

 

[MagnusHex]

On 7/22/2023 at 10:01 AM, Electricmastro said:

The episode “Shotgun” made me realize something. Walt describes the meth-making process as a “two-man operation”, but I never quite figured out why exactly that was.

why exactly is it a two-man operation anyway?

It's just easier with two people, but honestly, at that time, Walt was just talking out of his ass, making an excuse and throwing a tantrum to get Jesse back. Tyrus showed him that it could be done with one person.

[MagnusHex]

4x13: Face Off

Poisoning a kid is evil. Period. That's all.

I kinda had Walt just pegged as a pathetic and whiny victim this season, but I guess I underestimated him, especially when there's someone like Gus Fring in the same show stealing the spotlight. But alas, Gus' own ego got to him.

But damn, poisoning a kid (with the potential to kill him with even the slightest miscalculation, chemist or not), just to manipulate Jesse into helping him out... Regardless of justifiable reasons (like his whole family's lives being threatened), I just can't agree with the seemingly popular opinion that Walt was justified in poisoning Brock. I mean, don't get me wrong, letting Jane die was its own level of evil as well, but there's just something icky about harming a kid, making me feel this is truly the moment that Walter White has fully embodied Heisenberg, willing to kill a kid (or risk killing one) just to survive.

I was spoiled about Gus' death for a long time now, so this episode didn't have as much of an impact on me where Gus is concerned. That said, that shout was... something. It almost felt goofy, and almost treading narm territory, that scream, but I think Giancarlo pulled it off, that gradual realization leading up to the "Oh shit!" moment. I guess too much of a good thing would have problems as well, and it's a good thing that the show decided to end when it did.

5/5

What a (literally) explosive ending.